Sanbornton resident memorialized through portrait included in art installation

Substance use disorder doesn’t fit one demographic or type of person.

For Brady Gilbert, it cost him his life.

Gilbert, who grew up in Sanbornton, died of fentanyl poisoning on Aug. 29, 2021, at age 31. He is now being memorialized in what his mother Dedi Sampson calls a “unique and interesting way” through the Into Light Project exhibit at the Silver Center for the Arts in Plymouth.

“Brady was clean for 11-and-a-half months before he was poisoned by fentanyl,” Sampson said. “I don’t use the word overdose, because no amount of fentanyl is safe. It is poison.”

Sampson said there is a unique network of parents involved with one organization or another, which is how Gilbert’s story was discovered by Into Light. A narrative written by Jill Denton complements a graphite pencil drawing by Elizabeth Jones. Artists and narrators did the same for 32 other Granite Staters who died from the disease, as well.

“The groups are all intertwined, because the parents need so much support,” Sampson said. “It is a very devastating disease that we have to deal with, that carries a lot of stigma.”

Sampson remarked on Gilbert’s beautiful smile, and a gentle, friendly personality which everyone loved.

“People were all team Brady,” Sampson said. “Everyone wanted him to beat this. I don’t care what side of the tracks you are on, because if it bites your family, hold on. You learn rather quickly not to judge, and instead offer support.”

Sampson said her son’s story starts like many do, working his way up from smoking marijuana as a teenager to eventually being put on painkillers after a broken hand and then wisdom teeth removal. That started his decade-long struggle with substance misuse, but Gilbert was always someone who sought help.

Gilbert went through about 10 rehabilitation and sober living programs, with his family grasping at every potential solution they could think of.

“He did a couple stints in 15-month inpatient programs, and some outpatient programs,” Sampson said. “He tried to get mental health help at one point, and got turned away. It is just so difficult, and it can be expensive. We drained our savings accounts, his dad and I.”

Sampson said options weren’t great for a blue-collar working family with limited means, but she even knows families with plenty of money who didn’t get proper treatment. It’s never a guarantee, she said.

“I’ve met some wonderful people in the support groups,” Sampson said. “Brady’s story is not unique. There are many others out there like him.”

Gilbert was what Sampson described as “a great kid,” while also acknowledging he was an adult when he died. He will always be a “kid” to her.

He grew up like many other middle-class children in New Hampshire, playing sports and having fun with family and friends. He experienced typical adolescent issues as a teenager, which saddens Sampson, as this is when he started experimenting with drugs.

Some parents might say, “this could never happen to my kid,” but Sampson begs to differ. She said it is a scenario where Gilbert didn’t want to let his mother and family in on the problems with drugs until much later.

“Kids aren’t telling you, ‘Hey Mom, I’m going out to go smoke some marijuana or do some coke,' at least not before,” Sampson said. “They might tell you after and open up and say something, or they might try to keep it secret forever.”

Gilbert was somewhere in between. Sampson remembers he told her he tried smoking pot, which admittedly crushed her. They had tough conversations many parents do with their kids.

“We were grasping at straws together, asking people to talk to him and doing anything we could,” Sampson said.

Gilbert went through psychiatric care, rehabilitation of different lengths and types, and was incarcerated for a brief period, but that still wasn’t rock bottom. Unlike today, this topic wasn’t being talked about in 2009, Sampson said.

As years went on, Gilbert became open about his struggles. He was proud of Sampson for sharing his story, something he would always tell her.

“At one point he was in rehab. He told me that it doesn’t end there,” Sampson said. “There is constant work to do. In the end, I truly believe he got tired of the fight.”

Fentanyl came into the picture, and Sampson said one thing is certain: you cannot gamble with it.

“It is a do-and-die type of situation,” she said.

Gilbert was a heroin user and died from what Sampson said was a batch tainted with fentanyl. He was in a faith-based rehab program in Vermont called Team Challenge, using his carpentry skills to make cutting boards to be sold at the time he died. Gilbert was fighting right to the end.

“He met a lot of great guys in that program, who I still stay in contact with who beat it, but some still struggle,” Sampson said. “Brady was one of the good guys. I still have every emotion imaginable when I talk about him.”